Patients are typically arranged in different positions depending on the type of intervention during surgeries. For example, this can be a side position in the case of kidney surgery. Since the patient does not lie stably in such positions, a device for supporting or stabilizing the patient in a position is provided.
For this purpose, so-called body supports are used, in order to stabilize a patient in a predetermined position on the operating table. The body supports are typically secured to rails located on the sides of the operating table. In order to support the patients of different body type, the height of the body supports is typically adjustable and it is typically possible to fix the body supports at a set height. Thus, forces that are introduced via the securing devices into the operating table typically act on these body supports from outside. Such devices for fastening accessories are commonly also referred to as brackets.
The forces to be introduced are torques that are introduced around an axis parallel to the operating table. Because the rails are not formed along the complete resting surface, supports may also be used, which can support the patient at the sites where no rail is arranged immediately beneath. In these cases, torques are also introduced via the brackets into the rails around an axis that is perpendicular to the surface of the operating table.
The forces to be introduced are forces that support the patient in such a manner that, in the case of a setting of the support surface at an inclination with respect to the horizontal plane, for example, in the case of a Trendelenburg position, he/she does not slide off the resting surface. For this purpose, so-called shoulder supports or foot supports are usually used, which are also typically connected via a bracket to the slide rail of the operating table, which is attached on the side. Here the torques that are supported are thus torques around an axis that is arranged parallel to the surface of the resting surface and at a right angle to the longitudinal direction thereof.
Because, on the one hand, the resting surface can also be oriented in space by the simultaneous inclination in longitudinal direction and around an axis arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis of the resting surface, and, since, on the other hand, accessories are attached via the brackets, such as instrument racks, infusion stands and narcotic bows (that is to say accessories that do not support the patient but that are needed for general work or for securing covering material, tubes, lines or apparatuses for intra-operative drug administration), any combinations of torques and forces onto the brackets which have to be held securely are possible.
One possibility of ensuring the safest possible introduction of the forces and torques via the brackets is to connect the body supports by firm bonding to the brackets. This has the disadvantage that the bracket is firmly connected to the accessory, resulting in a large total weight of the accessory. Furthermore, it is disadvantageous that for each accessory, a bracket also needs to be secured to said accessory, which increases the costs and the storage space needed.
Furthermore, systems are known in which the body supports are connected by positive locking connection via special brackets. In the known systems, there typically one bracket that is suitable for a certain body support or a body support series. The rods of the body supports commonly have rectangular, square or round profiles. Hexagonal or octagonal profiles are also known. In the known brackets, for each profile type, a special bracket is typically used, which has the disadvantage that a plurality of different brackets are kept in storage, and it can easily happen that at first an attempt is made to use an unsuitable bracket.
Furthermore, using such brackets, for example, narcotic bows are also secured to the rails of the operating table. A narcotic bow is a rod assembly that is attached on the side to the slide rails of a resting surface in the area between a patient's neck and a patient's chest. To these rod assemblies, on the one hand, the sterile sheets covering the patients are attached, in order to give the anesthesiologist the best possible access to the head of the patient. On the other hand, the arms of the patient can be fixed to the rod assembly, in order to simplify the access to the operating field for the surgical team. In the case of narcotic bows as well, many different profiles are known, wherein, here too, special brackets for each profile type are used.
In addition, arm rests for the interoperative bearing of the patient's arm are attached to the rails via brackets.
In addition, so-called radial setting clamps for connecting accessory rods to operating tables are known. These are characterized in that the accessory rods can additionally be rotated about an axis which is oriented, on the one hand, in a plane parallel to the surface of an operating table and, on the other hand, at a right angle with respect to the longitudinal orientation of the operating table, and fixed at an angle relative to the surface of the operating table. The fixation and the angular setting of the rods occurs via a manually operated actuation element, wherein, for this purpose, a tommy screw is commonly used as securing element to be actuated manually. However, such radial setting clamps are designed exclusively for receiving rods having round profiles. Accessories with rods of rectangular profile are not secured via these radial setting clamps to the rails. Moreover, the disadvantage here is that, with the loosening of the tensioning by the tommy screw, substantially all degrees of freedom are released simultaneously, so that a fine setting of the position of the accessories secured via the radial setting clamp is not possible.